


Five Things Me and Julio Did Down by the Schoolyard

by tuesday



Category: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon (Song)
Genre: Coming of Age, Falling In Love, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, POV First Person, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking, Underage Driving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 10:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18776398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/pseuds/tuesday
Summary: I maintain that we did nothing wrong.  We were perfectly normal kids doing normal kid shit down by the schoolyard.





	Five Things Me and Julio Did Down by the Schoolyard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karrenia_rune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/gifts).



> Recip, I love this song and really enjoyed the chance to write for you! I hope you enjoy some hijinks Julio and the Narrator get up to leading up to the song, during the song, and after it. Happy jukebox!

1.

It wasn't that big of a deal. It was just a bit of fun. All the teens were doing it, rolling up to the schoolyard after hours and sitting on the swings or perched on the jungle gym to roll their joints or sip their cheap gin. And okay, yeah, it was against the law, but everyone did it. Maybe ten was a bit young to start, but it was _our_ schoolyard. If anyone should get to get trashed and play on the playground equipment, it should've been us.

So we did.

It was great.

Anyone who said I coughed when I tried the roach we nicked from his older brother was lying. Anyone who said I threw up was _super_ lying. It was fine. Everything was fine. We were kids being kids. And if I fell off the top of the slide, well, maybe they should have added higher railings.

Rosie Smith should have minded her own business. She didn't have to call the cops or the ambulance. Everything was perfectly fine, and I only needed three stitches.

Me and Julio were grounded after being threatened with juvie, but I maintain that we did nothing wrong. We were perfectly normal kids doing normal kid shit down by the schoolyard.

2.

We were twelve and finally allowed to see each other again. No more sneaking down to the schoolyard after curfew or pretending I was seeing Rachel or Robert or Pen instead.

Our parents hadn't forgotten.

My mom said, "That boy is trouble, but I know there's no stopping you."

His dad winked at me and said, "Maybe he'll stop climbing out his bedroom window now that there's no longer the lure of the forbidden."

His mom said some things that weren't to be repeated.

We went down to the schoolyard we'd spent the last year and a half using as a not-very-secret base of operations. We did most of the stuff we usually did, hanging out on the swings, climbing the slide the wrong way, hanging upside down from the jungle gym, and talking and talking and talking.

"Hey," I said when the afternoon light had dimmed into evening, the sky turning a dusky blue above us, the edges painted red and purple and gold. "I have an idea."

I never said it was a good one. Julio was on board anyway.

We managed three attempts at ding dong ditch before Rosie Smith called the cops on us.

There was no proof it was us. We just happened to be nearby. It was profiling to assume two dumb kids who were sitting giggling in the bushes were the ones who were bothering her.

And we'd never have bothered her if she hadn't gotten in our business first.

"You kids look familiar," Rosie said.

Fuck her. We were totally memorable. Maybe she'd remember us next time if we egged her house.

3.

For my fourteenth birthday, Julio told me to close my eyes. He had a surprise for me. We were sitting on the railing of his front porch, a faded, peeling blue that needed repainting. Sharp flakes bit into my palms whenever I rested them on the wood instead of my thighs.

I closed my eyes.

The porch creaked as Julio crossed it. The second step squeaked when he put his weight on it. There was the soft sound of his sneakers rustling through the grass of the overgrown yard, then the hard crunch of gravel. The garage door rattled as he lifted it up. A motor started up. It puttered up in front of me.

I opened my eyes to Julio sitting on his sister's motorcycle. He had two helmets with him. He grinned at me, a flash of white teeth, mischief in his eyes. He tossed me a helmet, bright pink.

"Really?" I said.

"You know how seriously I take your safety." He stood up and put on the blue one. He gestured at the motorcycle, a piece of junk that was still the coolest thing I'd ever seen. "Besides, Angela has a rule. Pink drives."

"Really?" I said again, but with a whole lot more enthusiasm.

I put on the pink helmet. I got on the motorcycle. Julio sat behind me, his hands on my hips, and talked me through it, how to open the throttle, how to use the brake.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, practically vibrating with excitement. Mostly the terrible suspension, though.

"Where do you think?" Julio asked.

"Think we could get this thing all the way up that slide?" I asked.

"I think we can try."

That was good enough for me.

Nosy Rosie called the cops on us before we could get that far. We had a means to make our getaway this time, though, and were back at Julio's house, bike back in the garage, before any units arrived. The tire marks on the bottom of the slide were a point of pride for a week before the rain washed them away.

4.

I was back from college for the summer. Julio was an upstanding member of society already, working at his dad's shop, but I was able to convince him to come down to the schoolyard late at night like we were ten and star-crossed best friends again.

We were sitting on the jungle gym, reminiscing about old times, when Julio said, "Hey, I have an idea."

"Yeah?" I wondered if he wanted to go ring Rosie's doorbell and bring this thing full circle.

"Close your eyes."

I closed my eyes. Of course I did. It was Julio.

I could hear the cheeping and chirping of crickets and other summer insects. A frog croaked. The air smelled like cut grass and honeysuckle. Everything was oppressively hot, despite it being well after dark.

Julio's lips were soft against my own. I sat there, metal bars digging into the bottom of my thighs and my ass, afraid to move—afraid it would either stop or I'd tip over. Julio pulled back, and I opened my eyes.

"I didn't say it was a good one," Julio said.

"I'm on board if you are," I said.

What followed next was against the law. It included public indecency and some older stuff that should have been taken off the books. We had a lot of fun, more fun than we'd had since trying to drive Angela's bike up the slide. Maybe even more fun than that.

Of course Rosie had to ruin it.

5.

The priest that had bailed us out was old now, but he was game. Everything was perfectly legal these days, and we'd gotten our marriage certificate well ahead of time.

"Here?" the priest said.

"Here's where we met. Where we fell in love." Julio's smile was bright. "Where we pledged to spend our lives together."

We got married on the sidewalk in front of the schoolyard. Our families, long-suffering, but resigned to our antics, attended in their Sunday best. When we were done, we knocked on Rosie's door.

"How'd you like to sign as a witness?" I asked.

Rosie slammed the door in my face. That was fine. Angela and Miguel had been prepared to fight to the death for that other signature.

+1.

We got on Angela's old bike. Someone had strung a bunch of cans to the back of it. I didn't know where we were going for our honeymoon, but I was wearing the pink helmet, so I was driving. Julio kissed the back of my neck, then put his helmet on.

We took off. We left behind a playground teeming with memories. In front of us, the road waited, ready for us to make some new ones.


End file.
